Luciano Berio
Sequenze

The triple CD Deutsche Grammophon reviewed here gathers the "Sequenze" by Luciano Berio: 14 pieces for solo instrument written over a period from 1958 to 1995, which constitute one of the most notable achievements of the composer.

The story begins in 1958, when Berio writes a short piece for solo flute titled "Sequenza". The possibilities he sees in the analytical study of a single instrument lead him to conceive a cycle of pieces exploring every imaginable detail, especially the unheard, of the instruments considered.

Thus, in the 1960s, another six Sequenze are created: for harp (II), for female voice (III), for piano (IV), for trombone (V), for viola (VI), for oboe (VII). Pieces characterized by an extreme density of the melodic aspect, in which the instruments are examined microscopically to extract passages of tightrope virtuosity, but not self-serving: through the Sequenze, Berio seeks to transform our idea of a certain musical instrument and the playing techniques we've been accustomed to for centuries. His is an extremely challenging and courageous attempt.

If "Sequenza VIII" for violin is the only one written in the 1970s, the cycle resumes in the 1980s with three new pieces: for clarinet (IXa; also transcribed for alto saxophone as "Sequenza IXb"), for trumpet (X), for guitar (XI). Lastly, the "Sequenza XII" for bassoon and XIII for accordion, both from 1995. (Other discographic editions include "Sequenza XIVa" for cello from 2002, which also has an alternative version for double bass.)

It is difficult to delve into the examination of the individual pieces: each Sequenza would deserve a review on its own and even that wouldn't suffice. Many of these pieces have become legendary in the music of the late '900s. For example, the "Sequenza II" for harp, an instrument that seemed destined, as Berio said, for "half-naked girls with long blond hair" and which in his piece must instead sound "like a forest with the wind blowing through it".

Or the "Sequenza III" for female voice, at the time written for the chameleonic voice of Cathy Berberian: an impressive catalogue of vocal behaviors ranging from cough to laughter, from declamation to singing, from acceleration to slowing down, all seasoned with around forty expressive indications fixed in the score (tense, serene, convulsed, coquettish, desperate, joyful, etc.) and based on a short text written by poet Mark Kutter employing few universal terms (house, night, woman, word, etc.) to be continuously deconstructed and recombined in its syntactic and phonetic aspects.

And so it goes: the "Sequenza V" for trombone, inspired by a famous clown, Grock, in which the performer is called to produce instrumental and vocal sounds simultaneously, transforming the instrument into voice and the voice into an instrument. Or the "Sequenza X" for trumpet, where the performer places the instrument inside the soundboard of a nearby piano, to vibrate the piano strings sympathetically, obtaining a dense reverberation that constitutes the acoustic shadow of the trumpet. Or again the "Sequenza XII" for bassoon, 18 minutes of almost uninterrupted sound thanks to the technique of circular breathing prescribed to the player.

It is a no limits Berio that we find in these Sequenze... A shame for the horrendous title ("Sequenzas") used by record companies that anglicize the Italian term: so does Deutsche Grammophon, the first to record these pieces and market the three CDs at full price; so does Naxos, which offers a different recording of the Sequenze at a reduced price; so does Mode, which in 4 CDs (and a 104-page booklet!) presents alternative and additional versions of the Sequenze. It's about three hours of music: listened to little by little, allowed to settle in our consciousness over ample periods, these pieces reveal themselves in all their complexity and charm.